PLACE
Collaboration with local authorities, community groups and partners, such as the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), to share information and integrate policies and strategies helps support sustainable tourism management.Together, we are promoting a variety of activities to our passengers and delivering greater social and economic outcomes for communities.
Economic Impact
We continue to invest millions of Euros in new sustainable terminal facilities, and work has progressed on several of these:
The Durban Cruise Terminal in South Africa became operational in December 2021
Construction of the new MSC Cruises Terminal in Miami began in the summer of 2021
A new MSC Cruises Terminal in Barcelona is due to be operational in 2024.
All our new cruise terminals will meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating.
We aim to be a force for good in the communities we visit. We stimulate the local economy by procuring food and beverage items for our ships. Our guests contribute too when they buy excursions, meals or souvenirs from local vendors.
In popular destinations, we typically work with tour providers who employ locally and support them as they build their business. This helps to generate jobs and engage with the local community to create shared value.
When we develop our private island destinations, including the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Portuguese Island and Pomene, we always give a strong preference to employing local staff to build and maintain shore operations.
We continue to work collaboratively with CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) to support the sustainable tourism aspirations of the destinations we visit.
Economic Impact

Sustainable Excursions
Our shore excursions team has worked with tour operators to identify excursions founded on strong sustainability principles. Known as ‘Protectours’, these excursions are specifically designed to educate our guests and promote sustainable tourism and responsible travel. Many of these tours include low impact transportation, including walking, cycling or kayaking, and many make a direct contribution to the environment through supporting species or habitat protection, like our Save a Turtle Tour experience in Cozumel.
We partnered with Travelife to deliver training and capacity building for all the tour operators we work with. Travelife is an initiative for tourism companies committed to achieving sustainability: its specialized indicators, based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Industry Standard criteria, focus on supply chain impact and the responsibilities of tour operators.
[ The development of accessible tours also remains a priority, with the aim of ensuring that we offer guests with limited mobility a range of options at each destination. All our ‘Easy & Accessible’ tours aim to eliminate obstacles and ensure smooth access to all the highlights visited.
We aim for all tour operators used by MSC Cruises at our frequent destinations to be certified to a GSTC certification programme, or to be engaged in the process.
Sustainable Excursions

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS
Our sustainability strategy is organized around four key pillars: Planet, People, Place and Procurement
Browse our Sustainability reports and find out what are our actions and goals to achieve sustainable cruising.